There are LIES and there are "sweet little lies". I never told my kids flat out LIES, but I did tell a few "sweet little lies". I started thinking about this yesterday when a student shared with me that her mom told her that whenever the ice cream truck was playing  music, it meant they were out of ice cream for the day.
I'm sorry, but that's pure GENIUS!  

Here's another great one... When a  friend's child was obsessed with a certain website, she blocked the site and told him that it was only open on Fridays. Yep, she unblocked the site every Friday morning and then blocked it at the end of the day! Again, GENIUS!

Or how about this one... Another friend really didn't want her kids eating fast food and told her kids that you had to be invited to eat at McDonald's and that they hadn't received an invitation yet. Her kids told their grandparents this and the next time her inlaws  visited, they came through the door so excited because they had received an invite to McDonalds. They protected mom and dad by saying right now, only grandparents were getting invitations and they weren't sure when they'd open up for families with children.
Genius right?

Finally, one that John and I came up with after seeing how quickly our kids forgot about their Christmas gifts. We told them that after you turned 3 or 4 years old, (the age of our kids at that time) Santa brought trips and family memories instead of toys. That Christmas morning they woke up to an itinerary for a complete weekend of fun events  in a town that was less than an hour's  drive away. We jammed the schedule with lots of great  experiences and actually ended up spending less than we often did on gifts. The kids still remember and talk about those adventures. I'd wager that they don't remember a specific toy they ever received.

So, I want to know... what "sweet little lies" have you  told your kids?

A long time ago, someone told me that if you are truly supposed to do something, it won't leave your mind. You won't allow yourself to diminish its importance. Your thoughts and actions will always return to the idea. 
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Tomorrow it will be exactly 12 years since I first started working on this site. I never forgot about it. As you can see from the dates of the files in this screenshot, I came back almost yearly and dabbled a little bit, never quite finishing. I never abandoned it.

It's funny to think about the things that have happened in those 12 years... things that would have taken anyone away for a bit. As I wrote this post, I was able to give myself grace for not getting this done in a timely manner.

2010- I started work on Read it Again by hiring an artist to create my logo and icons. I also mapped out what I hoped things would look like... it looks nothing like those first notes! My daughter graduated from high school and started college. I went back to teach after an 8 year stint in educational publishing. A friend who was now a principal begged me to come to her school. It was over an hour drive each way and I cried the whole way home for the first three months.
         
2011- We drove throughout the south taking my son to visit colleges in hopes of a soccer scholarship and my husband also spent lots of time driving him all over metro Atlanta to play on a semi-pro soccer team.

2012- My son graduated from high school in the spring and started college on a soccer scholarship that fall.
We thought we were empty nesters ready to relax a bit. But, you know what they say about plans... My husband wasn't feeling well we thought it was the flu. However, in early November he was diagnosed with early onset congestive heart failure.

2013- This year was a foggy as we came to the realization that we now had a new normal. It was also a little foggy because I started working on my Ph.D. at the University of Georgia. I was the oldest person in every single class I took.
Our daughter did her student teaching (Yes, it runs in the family.)

2014- We moved closer to a large city with good hospitals. It was also closer for me to drive to work.
Our daughter graduated from college and started teaching.

2015- I was named Teacher of the Year at my school! I also gathered research for my dissertation during the day. Each night I transcribed recordings and tagged/labeled my data in a data collection software program. 

2016-My son left college with 1 semester remaining and joined the United States Marines Corps.
I completed my Ph.D. and the aforementioned son surprised me by walking on stage after I received my diploma. We hadn't seen him in months.

2017- My son, yes the same one, was sent to California for training to prepare for a likely deployment in the Middle East. He was trained and eventually became commander of a light armored reconnaissance vehicle group (like a tank, but they can go in water as well) I started teaching courses at my alma-mater-The University of Georgia while still teaching full time.

2018 - My son was deployed and my husband and I lived  on pins and needles for the entire 8 months that he was in harm's way. 
I was told that the gifted program I'd been teaching in was being cancelled and I moved back into a regular classroom.

2019 - In addition to teaching at UGA, and my school, I started to oversee student teachers. A student from one of the courses I taught at UGA asked to be placed with me for her student teaching. She ended up getting a job in my school and we are still  close friends. My son finished his 4 years with the Marine Corps in the fall of 2019 and came home. 

2020- COVID- enough said. 
However, I used the down time to jump back into working on Read it Again. Towards the end of the year, my son took a job in North Carolina. My father passed away... devastating for this Daddy's girl.

2021-My daughter moves to teach in the same county as me!  I was moved to 4th grade, but I only had to teach reading!  No other preps, just reading!  My son met the love of his life. We  moved my mother closer to us... it's been a difficult transition for her.

2022-  My son got engaged. It finally happened! I launched my site!

​Who can tell what the next 12 years might hold...fingers crossed!

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​Book Nerd Mommy - This site is FULL of incredible reading opportunities.  I'm telling all my kindergarten teacher friends about her book lists. There's a list for just about any topic you can imagine! In addition, be sure to check out everything associated with the RECIPES menu. She has cool recipes that align with tons of great books. She also has book lists for just about every age and topic. ​